


Etro's Requiem

by Nezanie



Category: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy XIII Series
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Major Original Character(s), Original Character Death(s), Polyamory, Post-Canon, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-24 23:13:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22006012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nezanie/pseuds/Nezanie
Summary: Chaos unlike they ever saw before seeps in the new world in the form of monstrous beings they had forgotten even existed. Without Etro’s blessing, and no means to contact Caius and the other Yuels, danger lurks in their new hard earned lives. The heroes that saved their words time and time again must gather their allies, both new and old to protect their well earned newfound normality.
Relationships: Lightning/Oerba Dia Vanille, Lightning/Oerba Dia Vanille/Oerba Yun Fang, Lightning/Oerba Yun Fang, Original Character/Original Character, Serah Farron/Snow Villiers
Kudos: 5





	Etro's Requiem

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: This is largely inspired by A) FFXIII obviously and my absolute need to explore the lore a bit more, and a little bit of versus XIII inspired background lore B) I kept the Norse mythology basic gist of names and folklore for the OCs but it’s not too heavy, and C) there’s a bit of Kingdom Hearts subtle hints and not so subtle and of course other Final Fantasy lore I know of. Nothing too big you need prior knowledge of though. It’s just a whimsical tale I decided to write with characters I got attached to. And lastly: A note on the different races remarked on, I’ve invented some (one actually) but I used existing ones from FFXIV as a reference and introduced a couple of them in the flashbacks. 
> 
> Also I hated how Xion got debunked so I tried my hand at a created lifeform character myself

The sounds of the waves moving rhythmically in and out of the shores woke her up. The soothing swishing noise eventually combined with the water touching her leg got a jump out of her. Serah frowned looking down to her wet feet, her first thought was that Mog wasn’t with her. It wasn’t uncommon, the moogle would often visit his family now that they were inhabitants of the new world though it wasn’t often he could. And then her mind catching up and taking in the scenery around her set, her heart was sent to a flutter. The deadly quietness, the black, sad sea before her, the old inhabited buildings once spectators to the battle between the Guardian and her elder sister. 

Valhalla.

‘Why? Why am I here? It’s all over, isn't it? There’s no more fighting to be done!’ Her thoughts turned inquisitive, however the panic couldn’t quite settle in as she noticed something odd.

The place wasn’t as she remembered, she noted upon noticing that there was no immediate danger. It was somewhat brighter, there was no breathtaking fog and the heavy atmosphere weaving around her as the chaos the goddess Etro had battled once was gone. The vividness of the people and the warmth of their everyday life was still present, even if just a memory. This place had been inhabited. This was a Valhalla she had not visited in her travels with Noel. The same Valhalla but not quite.

Getting up to her feet spun on the spot a full circle around trying to figure out if this was just a bad dream, or a premonition of something to come. Which given her current history with the ‘gift’ was still a pretty ominous one. The first thing, or rather person, she set eyes upon was someone she knew quite well prostrate on the sand, clearly as unconscious as she had been.

“Oh Etro!” she exclaimed sprinting towards the girl and sliding onto her knees - rather roughly too - next to her friend.   
“Ugh! Vanille!” she cried grabbing her shoulders, lifting her gently, a hand on the back of her head. Thankfully her voice seemed to rouse her and she gave her usual the little frown of disdain, and her typical almost growling warning at being awoken harshly at what she described as an ungodly hour.  
“You need to wake up,” Serah demanded in the stern voice she used with her students. Taking another look at the barren landscape around them there was still that unsettling feeling of being in a very wrong place. Vanille’s eyes finally popped open and she seemed to notice they were not at home. The sand was definitely not a comfortable replacement to her bed and she glared down at it until she was lucid enough. 

“Where are we?” she asked, patting the sand off the skirt she had made bear skin. It was another thing that had Serah raise a brow, the garb of their new world was much more ‘practical’. How come Vanille was back in her Pulsian attire? She hadn’t seen Vanille in that Oerban outfit in what was actually centuries.   
Although, it had barely been a year since their new beginning it seemed more natural to see her in that. Peering downwards, Serah noted her own clothes had been changed back to the special set she had been previously gifted her by the goddess. It was sending all types of alarms blaring at the back of her mind. Even Vanille was uncharacteristically silent, opting to hold her hand tight as they eventually decided to walk around and try and figure out if this was really not just a dream.

‘Over here,’

Vanille stopped, causing Serah to yelp at the sudden force holding her arm back and stalling her. The girl scowled putting a hand behind her ear causing her companion to puzzle on her sudden behaviour.

“Van-”

She planted a finger on Serah’s lips silencing her friend in a split second. “Hush, didn’t you hear that?”

Serah was about to express her frustration about being interrupted, she hadn’t heard a sound. The eerie softness of the tide creeping in as they walked was different than the sound of the waves near home, it made her think of death.   
There was practically no noise around them which was what kept them huddled against each other, unsettled by the whole ordeal, by the stillness of the very air as if time stopped completely at death’s door here. Before Serah could grumble however she heard the whisper of an echo.

‘This way, towards the square,’

The voice was gentle, kind, and possibly feminine. It instilled a sense of trust and familiarity in the two that they followed their gut - suddenly aware of where they had to go - without a second thought.   
The voice called to them every now and then, took them through the older streets, narrow and homely albeit empty, until they arrived at a spacious square covered in well kept grass, flowers and beautiful sculptures. The trees all around the small garden, the smell of dew and flowers telling of the leisurely park and it’s role in the everyday life of its long gone inhabitants. Somehow it was the only place that seemed to have not been forgotten by the passage of time.

In the middle of the luscious area surrounded by delicate, pastel coloured flora a woman gazed at the silent city. On her lap, sleeping serenely, a person in what seemed to be fighting gear, their sword planted in the ground lay rusted and unmoved. 

Serah took Vanille’s wrist in her hand and pulled her forwards with a sense of urgency that surprised her. Vanille didn’t stop her, trotting behind her.   
The woman’s head bobbed up noticing their presence, her long blonde hair covered her face until she moved the warrior’s head unto the ground. She rose on her bare feet to greet them. Turning around she beamed at her guests as they stood before her puzzled by the strange sensation that this certainly wasn’t their first meeting.

The woman, on closer inspection, appeared younger than they actually thought. Around their own age, give or take a year, they concluded. She seemed perturbed by their presence, her happiness wiped clean as she noticed that she did not recognize Vanille or Serah.

“Y-you’re not Hati, I...I see, then...” she whispered peering back to the sleeping figure behind her. “I thought we could finally awaken them,”

“Can we help?” Serah asked, quite instinctively nosy and good natured. The woman’s eyes turned back to her, a warm hazel that scrutinized her for malicious intentions. They seemed to widen as she seemed to take notice of something quite vexing.

“You too were touched by the goddess,” she said, speaking in a manner that told her visitors she was addressing herself. Serah gasped at the implication.

“You mean you were chosen by Etro as well?” she looked back at Vanille, seeing the same dread mirroring in the girl’s eyes.

The woman gave a shaky laugh, bitterness in her tone, “Is that what she called herself in your own world? No, the goddess you knew is dead once more. She is imprisoned in death’s embrace and can no longer be reborn.”

“What do you mean?” Vanille demanded, her voice on the verge of breaking. She didn’t want to get thrown into another hell ever again. Not now that they had found a calm, joyful life. She had no time for riddles any longer, they lived their fair share of them.

“True Chaos can return uncontrolled as the gods slumber, your world is unprotected as it is, the girl and her guardian cannot push this back alone,” she explained clasping her hands in front of her, “If they don’t awaken, it will crumble,”

Vanille’s nerves unsettled further being replied so calmly. Something she heard Fang comment on came to mind, “Is that why the number of monsters has been on the increase lately?”

The blonde bit her lip, calculating how much information to divulge. She seemed to peek around them every now and then, “They should not have come to exist in your new world, it was a sign chaos was seeping through since its beginning,” 

“Are we running out of time?” Serah asked, wondering if their world could become as frozen as their surroundings.

A shake of her head brought relief to her new visitors, “The Scions of the gods have started awakening in the new world, they are unwittingly holding back the chaos, keeping it at bay.”

“Alright some good news finally,” Serah grinned slapping a hand on Vanille’s shoulder who managed a tiny smile. The way their new acquaintance seemed to tense however cut their joy short, “There’s a but...isn’t there?”

“The scions are awakening slowly, yet some remain unaware,” she smiled sadly, peering down at her slumbering companion, “Before the goddess first died, Valhalla was a city full of life, where humans and other folk lived in harmony under the care of the gods. The Scions had been chosen to protect Valhalla, serve the gods and stop a great evil…”   
Her voice trailed as she gave them her back kneeling down to arrange the bangs of the warrior. All around them everyday objects lay abandoned echoing her sorrow as their owners vanished before putting them to proper use. Some lay a broken mess, a reminder of the tragedy that occured in the city.

“The fight cost them dearly, and though their enemy was stopped, the goddess was dead and the scion of the goddess gave her life in order to resurrect her lady. Reborn, the goddess took pity on her chosen child and granted her friends one fervent wish. She gave birth to a new world,” she placed a hand on her heart taking a deep breath. “The heroes were sent into a deep slumber, awaiting the day their memory would come back to them once more. And that new world was…”

“Ours…” Vanille murmured receiving a nod as the nameless girl continued telling her tale.

“The goddess came to be known as Etro from then on,” she gave a shaky laugh, patting the skirt of her white dress, “the scion became a part of her and fell asleep in the heart of the goddess. It was not until that heart was pierced that the girl was set free once more, just to look at another dying world,”

“However, your sister saved it,” she smiled at Serah, a sad pitiful expression with but a sparkle of hope newfound in the hazel, “She stopped the servant of the great evil, and brought the souls of her people to a new, peaceful world, without the goddess’ aid. And you are the companions that helped her do it!” She seemed excited at having them in her presence now, “The scion of the goddess could then use the remnant of her lady’s power to call the other scions to lend her strength combining theirs with her own. She kept the chaos at bay, and cried for help as her power began to wane,”

Serah and Vanille frowned at one another as the woman ended her tale. It was all too much, they couldn’t keep up. Scions? Servants of Etro? Were they like L’cie or people who had been called for by Etro as Serah and Lightning had been?   
The woman came towards Serah and Vanille, grasping their hands entwining them into her own. 

“Please, you must listen to my plea, I have no strength left to harness the goddess’ power or bind the scion’s own abilities together anymore. They must awaken or all will be lost,” she begged them shaking their arms, “I need their help, your help,”

Serah and Vanille looked back at one another with worry etched in their features. Realisation hit them as they found the reason why this girl felt like she was someone closer to them then they had thought before. 

Vanille sucked in a breath, “You’re…” 

“Etro...?” Serah finished her sentence breathlessly.

“I am that goddess’ last scion,” she confessed, her eyes teared up, “The name Etro, it is my own, she...” Etro shook her head, “Nevermind that, there’s little time…”

The ground quivered beneath them as if to emphasize the rush Etro was feeling before they could even formulate a reply or any other question. Etro grew frantic, squeezing their hands. “You must find Skoll and Hati,” she looked down by her feet and gulped, “They’re the key that will guide you to all the other scions,”

Vanille and Serah realised their vision was blurring. Etro’s voice grew weaker, they could barely hear anything else she said as their surroundings shimmered until her final pleas was lower than whisper.

“Find the ruins of Valhalla, there you will find the ones that can guide you. I beg of you. Save them, my beloved family...”


End file.
